Update at 3/23/20 — The number of meal distribution locations has been expanded to five.

Earlier: Arlington Public Schools will be offering free breakfasts and lunches to those who need them during the month-long school closure.

APS announced Friday evening that meals will be provided for pickup from Kenmore Middle School and Drew Elementary, starting Monday, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. The meals will be available to any child ages 2-18, but children must be present to receive the meals.

The program will help fill a need in the community, particularly among those eligible for free or reduced price lunches at school, as families hunker down during the worsening coronavirus outbreak. For some families, the outbreak will mean a loss of hourly wages for an extended period of time.

More from APS:

Beginning Mon, March 16, APS will provide free grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches at two school sites – Kenmore Middle School (200 S. Carlin Springs Road) and Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School (3500 S. 23rd Street). Meals will be set up on a table outside the building for distribution from 11 a.m.to 1 p.m. Monday-Friday.

APS will provide one (1) lunch for that day and one (1) breakfast to take home for the following day. These meals will be free to any child aged 2 to 18. Children must be present to receive the meals; no meals will be given to parents without their child or children present. We will continue to monitor the situation on a daily basis and make adjustments as needed.

Meals will be provided to all children without charge and are the same for all children regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability, and there will be no discrimination in the course of the meal service.

Meals will be provided Monday-Friday beginning 3/16/2020, at the sites and times as follows:

Also on Friday, APS announced that it would be offering instructional activities for students during the school closure, via a combination of hard copy materials and electronic means.

The school system provided the following guidance to families:

We have prepared to deliver instruction to our students during this period. Please note the last day of the third-quarter grading period has been altered due to the school closure. All teachers will now complete their grading of third-quarter content by March 20, and it will only include student work submitted by that date. Report cards will still be sent home to families at the end of April as previously scheduled.

For Early Childhood and Elementary students (PreK-Grade 5), instructional materials have been prepared and should have been distributed by individual schools either in hard copy or electronically. If you have questions about how to access the instructional materials for your child, please contact your student’s teacher.

Secondary students (Grades 6-12) will be able to access assignments using Canvas. Teachers will spend the week of March 16 fulfilling their normal duties and working to transition course content, assignments and activities online.
We want to acknowledge that we can never replace the work our teachers do with students in our classrooms; no one expects learning to be as effective as what teachers accomplish directly with students. These activities are meant to help our students maintain their existing skills and knowledge, extend their learning, and prepare a foundation for topics and concepts to come in the fourth quarter.

During our school closure, teachers will provide instructional activities that both review previously taught information and introduce new topics and concepts. While teachers have been instructed not to grade assignments or quizzes of newly-introduced topics or concepts, they may offer assessments to inform their teaching. These formative assessments will be used to monitor student progress and evaluate the effectiveness of instructional activities.

Teachers will be able to grade assignments assigned prior to Friday, March 13, for use when calculating third-quarter grades. It is important to note that the last day for students to submit third-quarter assignments is Friday, March 20, unless otherwise arranged with the teacher.